Thursday 4 February 2010 07.49 EST
First published on Thursday 4 February 2010 07.49 EST

David Kern, chief economist British Chambers of Commerce

"With the £200bn programme now complete, there was some speculation that the MPC may reassess their tactics. We support the decision not to make any changes at present.

"Although there is no current need to increase the QE programme, it is very important for the MPC to persevere with expansionary policies. Despite some tentative signs of optimism, the economy remains weak and fragile.

"To sustain confidence, the MPC must make it clear that it does not plan to start reducing the QE stimulus below £200bn and that it will not contemplate any near-term increases to interest rates. The main priority must be to counter the threat of a double-dip recession."

Hetal Mehta, senior economic adviser to Ernst & Young Item Club

"With the economy out of recession, albeit by the skin of its teeth, the MPC felt that the considerable monetary stimulus already in place should be enough to support the recovery. While the door has been left ajar for a resumption in asset purchases in the future, should the need arise, all signs point to a winding up of the programme.

"Key to the decision will have been the inflation outlook. Some MPC members have been making rather hawkish comments recently, suggesting that concerns about inflation are increasing.

"However the recovery is still at a delicate stage and, after some short-term volatility caused by the VAT increase and higher fuel prices, we expect inflation to drop below target for a prolonged period of time. And with fiscal tightening in prospect, we envisage interest rates to remain at 0.5% until early 2011, by which time the recovery should be on a much firmer footing."

Howard Archer, IHS Global Insight

"Even if this really is the end of quantitative easing, any policy tightening still looks a long way off given that the recovery is likely to remain fragile for some time to come. Indeed, we expect interest rates to stay down at 0.50% until at least late 2010 and would not be surprised if the Bank of England held off from raising interest rates until 2011. Furthermore, the eventual increases in interest rates are likely to be limited to counter the restrictive impact of the tight fiscal policy that will increasingly have to be enacted from 2011/12 to rein in the bloated public finances."

James Knightley, ING Bank

"They [the Bank] have left the door open to potential further expansion should the data warrant it. Moreover, they were at pains to point out that they are not now turning hawkish – "the stock of past purchases, together with the low level of bank rate, would continue to impart a substantial monetary stimulus to the economy for some time to come."

Ian McCafferty, CBI chief economic adviser

"It is unsurprising that the bank has kept interest rates and its quantitative easing policy at the same levels. The situation is finely balanced.

"The economy is stabilising, but still faces some serious headwinds and recovery remains shallow-rooted. However, near-zero interest rates, the existing £200bn QE package and the sharp fall in sterling are already extremely expansionary, and inflation has exceeded expectations consistently in recent months.

"As the economy recovers, the Bank will have to start to think about returning monetary conditions towards more normal levels. We would expect this to lead to a small rise in interest rates around the middle of this year."

Graeme Leach, IoD chief economist

"The MPC is engaged in a difficult juggling act. On the one hand, anaemic GDP and money supply figures argue that quantitative easing should be extended, but on the other the increase in inflation has exceeded expectations and suggests a need for caution. Our view remains that until money supply growth strengthens further sustainable recovery will be in doubt. A double dip, or even triple tumble, recession remains a serious possibility. We've experienced a very abnormal recession and shouldn't be in the least bit surprised if the recovery is abnormal as well."

Philip Shaw, Investec

"The MPC is in now in wait-and-see mode. Policy will remain on hold for a while, but there is a residual short-term risk that the committee will sanction more QE if economic momentum fails to build over the next couple of months. Our published forecast is that rates will begin to rise around the middle of the year, but we recognise that the recovery may not have enough legs for the MPC to tighten this early and if anything the tone of the MPC's statement today was uncertain, if not overtly dovish. We hope that next week's inflation report will help to shed more light on the various issues."

Edward Menashy, chief economist at Charles Stanley

"The worrying feature that overhangs the fixed-interest markets is the level of public and private sector debt. Taken together this amounts to 466% of GDP, only slightly less than 471% debt to GDP ratio recorded by Japan. As such this is a worse position than the battered Greek economy. So far the government has given no concrete figures on spending cuts, preferring to wait for the spending review. This has prompted Pimco, the large bond fund, to state that 'UK gilts are sitting on a bed of nitroglycerine'.

"Surely it would be better to come out now with firm plans to reduce the UK public sector deficit rather than to invite a sterling crisis that could result in higher bond yields and consequently blot out the fiscal stimulus that the government is desperately trying to preserve?"